When Samuel J. Palmisano retires next month, he'll enjoy a generous goodbye present: The former International Business Machines Corp. chief will earn $20,000 for any day he spends four hours advising his longtime employer.

It's official: footnoted is no longer part of Morningstar Inc., and I'm no longer working full time for footnoted. This unfolded over several months, so it's no shock, and I'm already well into figuring out my next steps.

You can read the joint announcement of the change. Michelle, footnoted's founder, also published a blog post about the change on Tuesday. But like so many formal announcements, there isn't a ton of detail. So I thought I'd fill in what gaps I can.